Voodoo – Mounted by the Gods

The story of a young Chosen One in shimmering black and white

In Benin, Voodoo is an officially recognized religion alongside Christianity and Islam. For ten years, photographer and filmmaker Alberto Venzago explored its history and practices. His film observes the boy Gounon: Kidnapped as a child, as the Chosen One he joins the monastery of the deity Mawu-Lisa at the age of twelve, where he is trained as the successor to the greatest Benin Voodoo priest. The documentary in black and white, shimmering images becomes a trip between trance and reality that raises more questions than it answers.